Avi 2-28-2020

Avilene ate brown rice and two bites of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she had three servings of salmon, ate whole wheat dinner roll, bite of cauliflower, and ate mangoes.

Yesterday Atley mentioned several times about "going to Philipsburg on Friday."  We talked about the Nelson Family owning the house and other people "paying to use it."  Well at snack time Avi told Atley, "You cannot use my stuff there!!"  Atley said something that translated meant; "We pay money for it." Avi said, "NOOOO!! We pay you to use it!!"  Haha!  Then for special emphasis she added, "My Dad told me that."  That was SO funny.  (And now we know why Molly does the Family finances!!)

Note leftover from yesterday at Snack Time.  (I posted some of this on Svea's Blog, but not the picture.)  Lauralea sat on my lap (facing outward and grinning at the kids) and none of the kids could even see me!  Svea and Linnea were not sure if that was a good idea.  Linnea had a super serious look on her face and never did smile.  Avi and Atley were laughing SO hard.  You can see a picture I posted on Avi's Blog.  Svea said, "Don't sit on Gary."  Then she added, "You goofy."  Haha.  I LOVE this picture!!  Avi was laughing so hard.  :)

Another picture from yesterday afternoon.  She was hanging here for several seconds and you can guess what she was saying; "Have you taken the stinking picture yet!?!"  Haha!  Or something similar to that!!  Following picture: Avilene was working on the tray and matching up the nuts and bolts.  Last picture: Avi was taking a picture of a Mr Potato Head she made and said, "I'm gonna take a picture to show Mom!!"

Avi - 2/27/2020

Avilene ate whole wheat English muffin and two servings of mandarin oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat elbow noodles, peas, and three servings of applesauce.

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon when Avilene was walking around with Cal.  (The picture makes it look like they were dancing.)  She did this for several minutes with him, which was very sweet of her, and he was NOT ready to quit when she was done.  He had a tight grip on her fingers and she had to pry his fingers off.  Haha!

This next picture is also from yesterday afternoon: Atley and Avi were having fun being silly and saying, "I'm dying, I'm dying" and laying on the mattress with their eyes closed.  I took this picture because I liked Atley's "big hair."  Then I saw at the top of the picture that Svea was laying on Avi. If you zoom in on Avi's face she has a sweet contented look.  Very precious.  She LOVES her sister.

Next picture:  Avi taking a pause from her busy life to greet Miles.  She does this almost every day.  I love that.  Last picture: Avi requested that Alexa play songs from "Frozen."  She started building with the legos and wanted me to take a picture of "Elsa's Castle."  She told Atley about a "new Frozen Movie coming out."  Atley said, "I'm gonna tell my Mom about that."  Avi said, "It might be a scary one."  Atley said, "Do you think you will cry?"  Avi; "Nope."  :)

Avi - 2/26/2020

Avilene ate bites of French toast and ate strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of Paleo Stew with meat, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, and green beans.  She ate two servings of saltines and two servings of tropical fruit.

When Andy drove around the corner Atley said, "He's driving the van!!  I like his hat!!"  Now that's typical Atley - back-to-back sentences that are totally unrelated!!  She is so funny and random!!  And entertaining!

I hid Woody and Airplane for the big girls and Linnea happened to be watching and disclosed the location!!  Haha.  I said, "Linnea, you little turkey!"  The big girls; "You're NOT a turkey; you're a GOOD girl!!"  Haha.

This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon.  They have been playing with all the Mr Potato Heads and accessories, but it's always in the afternoon.  Second picture: Avi built a TALL tower with these cool interlocking blocks.

Last three pictures; Atley and Avi were playing on the couch and realized it was making their hair crazy with static electricity.  So I told them how to make it "really" work.  (You're welcome!). They would jump up and sprint to the mirror to admire themselves.  :)

Avi - 2/25/2020

Avilene ate three servings of waffle and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of chicken, ate whole wheat tortillas, two servings of corn, and three servings of baked cinnamon apples.

I took this first picture almost immediately after the kids waved bye at the window to Momma.  Avi immediately started working on a puzzle (musical puzzle) and you can see Svea reading books in the background.  I love the second picture.  This was the end result of jumping off the igloo.  She said, "Hey Gary!  Watch!!  I call this my spring bounce!!"  Haha.

I really love this next picture:  Avi reading to the two little girls.  Very cute.  This is one of the advantages of having these mixed ages.  It gives them a chance to do these kinds of activities.  Going forward, Avilene (and Atley) will have so much fun teaching Svea about everything in the Preschool Room.  I'm looking forward to that!!  Last picture: Avi has these purses, especially the purse on her left arm, LOADED with toys.  She also did some cool art work in the Preschool room and some puzzles out there as well.  And some more cool Mr. Potato Head creations.

Avi - 2/24/2020

Avilene ate two servings of kix cereal and ate mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey burger, whole wheat hamburger bun, no tomatoes, no avocado, and ate two servings of cherries.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange and Avi was immediately checking out everything of course.  I like the second picture where she's working on the puzzle.  She works this puzzle fairly easy, but she loves it.  As soon as she saw it she said, "WOW I like this puzzle!"  Haha!

 

Next picture; Avilene was taking pictures and this first one is of Miles playing in his saucer.  Then, as usual, we'll look at the pictures another day and put some on the digital frame.  Following picture; This is actually very intriguing to me!!  She set up this dress-up shoe and finds it to be an interesting subject for her picture.  :)

I took this last picture shortly before lunch and the big girls were both engaged in putting together some potato heads.  :)  The last time this activity was available they didn't really pay much attention to it, but this morning they were enjoying it again.  I always think it's interesting to watch what activities attract them and the length of time.

Avi - 2/21/2020

Avilene had no French toast and ate dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of pulled pork, ate whole wheat toast, peas, and two servings of strawberries.  At lunch Atley said, "We like this meal!!"  (Because she and Avi were both having second servings.)  At breakfast Atley said, "What rhymes with plum?"  Avi came up with "thumb" and moments later "drum."  Wow, nice job of coming up with a couple of good rhyming words Avi!

I poked my head around the corner by Avilene and said, "HEY!!"  She didn't even flinch and said, "You didn't frighten me."  haha!  (I like that she used the word "frighten" instead of "scare.")

Here's a note left over from Wednesday afternoon.  Avi said, "Gary, Mom and I are going golfing."  I said, "Well it's still winter and you will do that when the weather get nice."  Avi said, "I mean we are going ice skating."  LOL.  I was laughing at what she said and then she said, "Never mind.  We're going straight to bed."  Hahaha.  Isn't that funny?!  She makes me laugh.

Here are some pictures from this morning.  If you saw Svea's Blog I talked about Avi joining Svea in building and playing with the legos.  Avi wanted me to take a picture of her stack of legos flowers.  It's fun (and important) to validate what she's working on with a picture.  Next picture; Avi and Atley doing their daily 20 minutes on the Kindles.  As soon as the timer goes off they immediately get up and put the tablets to sleep.  Good work girls.  Last picture:  I just thought it was cute how the static electricity was messing with her hair.

Avi - 2/19/2020

Avilene had two servings of whole wheat toast and ate mangoes and two servings of banana for breakfast.  (We ran out of mangoes so we substituted bananas for second servings.)  For lunch she ate two servings of ground beef with marinara sauce on top of whole wheat spaghetti noodles.  She had a couple big bites of cauliflower and ate fruit salad.

To anyone following Avilene's Daily Blog:  There will be NO Blog tomorrow, February 20th, as I have to report to Jury Duty tomorrow morning.  It's in Municipal Court so I don't anticipate this lasting more than a day at the most.  (Hopefully!)

I was thinking about Avi's language and she has a great vocabulary and is always curious about words; "What does that word mean?"  This morning I was having a difficult time understanding her and the only time that happens is when she uses ONE syllable words.  She frequently makes them into TWO syllable words.  Today's example is the word "hearts."  (plural)  Sounded like; "how-its." I kept asking her to repeat it and she's awesome at trying to help me understand!!  She started making the shape of a Valentine heart with her hands.  Ha!  That was super cute!!  I finally got it right before I drove her to total exasperation!!  :)

First picture is left over from yesterday afternoon.  Avi built this piece and said it was for "killing flies and mosquitos."  Then she was giving Atley and Nora (who was here while Mommy was feeding Miles) lessons on how to go about slapping and killing mosquitos.  Avi really emphasized the importance of this because "you want them to die because they will suck your blood!!!"  Haha! Atley looked slightly traumatized by that revelation!!  :)  Last picture: Looking for Woody and Airplane.  Nope, they are not in your water supply bucket.  :)

Avi - 2/18/2020

Avilene ate whole wheat bagel and three servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of shrimp, ate whole wheat toast, bite of stir fry vegetables, and two servings of raspberries. I burned the brown rice so we substituted toast for lunch.  Atley said, "I don't like that smell!!"  It was pretty rank, I agree!  :)  This picture is from breakfast and Avi loved the grapes that had grown together.  :)

Wow, Avilene came in without the "Flying Squirrel" bracelet.  Last Friday I asked her if she wanted me to cut it off.  Her was her response; "NO!! It might be there for the rest of my life!!"  Haha! Well I guess that's not happening!!

Next picture: I was looking across the street by the mailboxes and said, "Is that snow in the street or is that some garbage!?"  Avi said, "Get me the binoculars!"  Haha!!  Good job Avi!!  She looked for several seconds and said, "It's snow."

Next picture: Atley and Avilene were looking for Woody and Airplane this morning.  I hid them 3 different times and this spot happens to be where they found them the LAST time.  That always cracks me up when they go right back to where it was the last time.  :)  Last picture: Atley and Avi did several trays and activities in the Preschool Room this morning.  This particular one involves matching numbers or counting out "coins."  You can see the "17" and that's obviously a number they are not yet familiar with.  But this just introduces them to all the numbers up to 20.

Avi - 2/14/2020

Avilene ate cream of wheat cereal and half of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a couple bites of a chicken dish with sweet potatoes, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts.  "I really don't like this."  But she gave it a good try!  I really don't think this recipe is a keeper.  :)  She ate two servings of brown rice and two servings of pineapple.

At breakfast I was giving instructions to Svea and Linnea and encouraging them to work hard and not make a huge mess with the cream of wheat.  Avi was cracking me up because she was adding her "two cents worth" to EVERYTHING  I was saying!!  Some of her words went like this: "Yes, and don't get it all over your tray!!"  "Yes, and Gary will have to help you!!"  "Yes, and if you make a giant mess he will have to help you!!"  Haha.

Yesterday afternoon I told Avi; "Hey, tomorrow is Valentines Day!!"  Avi said, "I know that.  My parents told me that."  Haha.  Well good, I'm glad they're keeping up!!  :)

First picture:  I just love how much detail Avi is doing with most of her pictures now!!  It's very impressive and illustrates what she's thinking!!

Last two pictures;  This is a large floor puzzle (39 pieces) I just got for the Preschool kids.  It's unique in that it doesn't have a straight border.  I helped them quite a bit the first time, but both of them were finding lots of matching pieces too.

Avi - 2/13/2020

Avilene ate three servings of waffles and three servings of fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of turkey meat loaf, ate whole wheat tortillas, two servings of sweet potatoes, and three servings of cherries.   At lunch Avilene said, "Atley doesn't like the beef loaf!"  Haha.  (made with turkey meat!)

Yesterday afternoon Peter came with Daddy Andy to pick up the girls.  Atley said the cutest thing after they left.  It was doubly cute because Peter had not interacted with Atley; she was just observing him interacting with Svea and Avilene.  Atley said, "I want Peter to come to my house.  I'm gonna ask my Mom and Dad."  :)

Avilene said, "Hey Gary! I saw mushrooms in my neighborhood!!"  Less than a minute later she said, "Hey Gary! what's a neighborhood?"  :)

First picture is left over from yesterday afternoon.  Avi was jumping and spinning off the top of the igloo.  She almost made it all the way around!!  I sent this to Momma Molly so she could see it in Live Mode.  Did you notice Callahan sitting and watching?  In the second picture Avi and Atley were searching for "airplane and woody" and Svea joined them.  You can see the top three shelves are bare as they are clearing the way as they go!!

Here are a couple pictures of Atley and Avi doing some Preschool activities.  First doing some puzzles and in the second picture they are measuring the length of the beads.  And making shapes and designs with the beads too!

 

Avi - 2/12/2020

Avilene had no French toast and ate strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she had three large servings of Whole 30 Chili with meat, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, tomato sauce, and spices.  She ate whole wheat dinner roll and two servings of tropical fruit.  (She will soon qualify as a Whole 30 Convert!!  Haha!  Especially if it's just the chili!)

I was in the kitchen putting food on the plates; Avi and Atley were working on puzzles at the Preschool table.  Linnea started crying in the Daycare Room.  Avi and Atley both jumped up and sprinted out there; Both big girls were yelling, "What happened!?! What are you crying about!?! Tell us what happened!?!"  When I saw them go sprinting out there I knew I needed to follow in high pursuit!!  "Whoa, whoa, whoa...I'll take over and handle it from here."  Haha!  Thanks for your help!! They are kind of like my "deputies!" Except I haven't officially deputized them yet!

Here are a couple pictures from Avi's morning;  I got some different kinds of decorative tape and she's been having fun with them and making shapes and letters.  Atley will start one and then just ask Avi to finish it for her; or add more to it.  Then Atley puts it on her cubby and gets full credit!!  Haha! Following picture:  They were dressed up in these animal suits after breakfast.  (Avi on the right.)

Last picture: I got 6 new puzzles - 20 piece each - and Atley and Avi did all of them.  They worked steady on these for over 30 minutes.  Wow.  That was very cool and impressive.  That's a long time for 4 year olds to stay on task.

Avi - 2/11/2020

Avilene ate whole wheat English muffin and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate some pork roast, ate whole wheat toast, beets, and two servings of applesauce.  So at breakfast Avi said, "My Mom is going to be away for one sleep."  Where's she going?  "She's gonna be in Helena."  Atley started talking about "how many airplane rides it takes to get to Hawaii!"
Avi said, "No, she's going to Helena."  Atley said, "No, I'm talking about myself."  The totally disconnected conversation continued for a minute or two like this until Avi finished up by saying, "Hawaii is a beach!"  (Hahaha.)  "And a long long long ways from Montana."

Avilene asked me; "what does your shirt say?"  So I read it to her; "You're never too old, too wacky too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child."  At lunch time Avi looked at my shirt and said, "You never pick up a book and read to a child."  LOL.  Well that's close, but that's actually the opposite of what it says.  That hit my funny bone!!

First picture:  I mentioned this to Momma Molly yesterday, but thought I'd post a picture of it.  I'm allowing these two Preschoolers to have 20 minutes of screen time once per day.  (I got these 2 Kindles on Black Friday for $30 each.)  Lauralea worked hard to make these kid friendly and put very appropriate games on them.  Numbers, colors, shapes, etc.  There are numerous choices.  The kids have accepted the time limit without any moaning!!

Next picture: This was very cute.  Avilene said, "Hey Gary! Look! Cal is doing "ring around the rosy!"  He was loving it too!  When she finished she sat him down and he reached up for more of that fun time.  :)  Last picture;  This is one of the frequent pictures taken as a result of hearing this; "Hey Gary! You wanna get a picture of this!?!"  Yes, that's a nice contraption you built!!  :)

Avi - 2/10/2020

Avilene ate some Chex cereal and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, two servings of whole wheat sandwich thins, no tomatoes, ate avocado, and two servings of mandarin oranges.

This first picture is left over from Friday afternoon.  The kids were playing with the blocks, then stacked them in front of the gate and they were all gazing into the entry room.  What are you guys looking at?  Avi said, "Our cubbies."  Atley said, "They are SO cool!!"  Haha!  Good, I'm glad you like them!!  They really do like having their own space!!  

Avi and Atley were working on some art; coloring with markers and doing some stickers.  Atley spotted a guy in a tree over the fence in the back yard.  (Trimming the neighbor's apple tree.)  Atley asked, "What's he doing?"  Avi said, "He's shaking the snow out of the tree!"  Haha!  Wow, that's expensive tree maintenance.  :)  I told them he was "trimming" the tree.  Avi said, "No, he's got a snow remover thing and it's orange."  No, that's a chainsaw.  "What's a chainsaw?"  I'll take you out to my shop later and show you what one looks like.  :)

Next picture: This is one of those "Gary, take my picture" pictures!!  :)  Little cutie.  Last picture; We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids stayed busy.  I took this picture when they were doing some legos construction.  Not a "new" toy, just a good old standby that they all enjoy and something they rarely get tired of.

Avi - 2/7/2020

Avilene ate bites of oatmeal and two servings of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of tilapia, ate whole wheat elbow noodles, green beans, and three servings of applesauce.

First picture: Avi was playing the game called, "Throw the Dog a Bone."  You're actually supposed to stand back a few feet to make it more challenging, but hey!  The different dogs light up and you toss the "beanbag" bone on the right dog.  And then the game declares you a "winner."  "Player number one is the winner!!"  Avi said, "I'm the winner!!"  Haha.  Yup and you were the only player too.  In the second picture Avi found another way to use the "beanbag bones."  "Hey Gary! These slide on the floor."

Next picture; The four girls were working hard to build a block wall.  Check out Svea's Blog about she and Atley bickering over one of the block towers being pushed over!!

Last picture: Avilene played with the car ramp you see and then she moved on to the Art Cabinet.  I already sent Momma Molly a couple pictures of Avi working on this.  It was amazing how hard she worked and how meticulous she did her coloring.  A fantastic job Avilene!  Geez, she must have stayed on task for at least 30 minutes.